As long as "soulless" clubs are great at playing football, the vast majority of the public won't give a feck
Champions League - Round of 16 - 1st Legs 13/14/20/21 Feb
- Thread starter TheGame
- Start date
He's 29 y.o. Damn.. things in football that sounds absurd.
Ojess! It will
Nope. Just don't have enough attacking talent
Btw for all that PSG don't look impressive, they actually kind of are. Defense is solid, they're murder in transition(and are talented enough/organized enough to generate quite a bit of it) and Mbappé is a monster to such a degree they can usually find ways to score.
They'd be a poor big team without Mbappé most likely, but they do have him(and this is also why they're gonna keep him - he's worth more to them than to any other team out there)
I simply refuse to call any team impressive that can't win a group ahead of this terrible Dortmund.
They somehow missed 20 billion tap ins against newcastle and dortmund. Ultimately though if you have to bet on them missing a lot of easy chances to beat them, you're probably facing a great team
I think PSG can be a serious threat now, even though there's at least 4 teams I'd consider better than them, at the moment. Enrique is a good manager, and when there's 8 teams left, anything can happen.
However, we've seen some complete mental collapses from PSG in the knockout stages several times over the last few years, and I wouldn't be surprised to see another one, even though they have a lot of new players now.
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Top teams are kinda weak right now but still better than medium teams so it's a bit boring.
That is not a relevant point though. You cannot say "keeper would not have saved it anyway" to deny a correct offside call.
Not saying this was the correct call, but then again it is not absurd to suggest a player actually touching the goalkeeper is interfering with him.
Basically agree. Other stuff that stood out:
-Merino ran his socks off, dominated Zaire-Emery, who in fairness is 17
-Barrenetxea in turn couldn't do anything against Hakimi, so Sociedad were basically only able to attack centrally or through Kubo. They looked to be needing a better player at LW
-Sociedad pressed quite well until they ran out of gas. Felt like a game where their manager had to risk throwing on 3-4 players at the 60 minute mark in the front 6 to keep the press high, or just make a defensive sub or two and switch to sitting very deep and try to hang on for 0-0, but PSG got that set piece goal. But the players seemed clear on what they were supposed to do and kept PSG from playing, though didn't create a ton themselves (closest moment was a great Merino strike off the bar from well outside the box), so overall you could see why they've made the knockouts
-Mbappe is very fast
Just watched Lazio-Bayern, I thought Lazio was foolish not to really go for it once they went up a man. 1-0 going back to Munich with Bayern still solid favorites to quality isn't such a good result that you play on the counter for the final 25 minutes. Felt like they were happy to just get a win against Bayern rather than risking ruining a fun night for a better chance to qualify. Though ultimately Bayern tried to equalize a bit too aggressively (also odd) and traded some half chances from Kane for a great chance for Felipe Anderson the break, so it could have ended 2-0.
In terms of individual players:
-Upamecano had a very strong first half and then started randomly giving the ball away with heavy touches and eventually tried to give the tie away by flying into a red card challenge for a penalty. He really is great when he's not terrible, wonder if he'll settle down or always have this in his game
-Neuer still great.
-Muller seemed furious at Sane and Musiala even when they didn't really make a mistake. He linked play well though, he really understands how to keep things simple while making attacks happen, was a big difference compared to their game with Leverkusen
-Kimmich always great. He and Goretzka have such nice chemistry as a pair.
-Isaksen made a bunch of errors but his pace and power gave Guerrero some trouble
-Immobile can't run anymore. There was space in the channels or for long balls from fullbacks, would have been interesting to see.
-I've always liked Guendouzi, he's good on the ball and aggressive, just a quality #8 overall. He'd start for England as the 3rd man in that midfield, for instance, for me.
In terms of individual players:
-Upamecano had a very strong first half and then started randomly giving the ball away with heavy touches and eventually tried to give the tie away by flying into a red card challenge for a penalty. He really is great when he's not terrible, wonder if he'll settle down or always have this in his game
-Neuer still great.
-Muller seemed furious at Sane and Musiala even when they didn't really make a mistake. He linked play well though, he really understands how to keep things simple while making attacks happen, was a big difference compared to their game with Leverkusen
-Kimmich always great. He and Goretzka have such nice chemistry as a pair.
-Isaksen made a bunch of errors but his pace and power gave Guerrero some trouble
-Immobile can't run anymore. There was space in the channels or for long balls from fullbacks, would have been interesting to see.
-I've always liked Guendouzi, he's good on the ball and aggressive, just a quality #8 overall. He'd start for England as the 3rd man in that midfield, for instance, for me.
Huh. Having seen the leipzig disallowed goal again, i actually changed my mind. Offside guy pushes Lunin right as the ball is coming in, you can see Lunin being moved as he's squaring his feet to go towards the ball(presumably)
I still don't think it would have made a difference, but also yeah, the offside player clearly interferes with the play
I still don't think it would have made a difference, but also yeah, the offside player clearly interferes with the play
2 matches tonight.
@do.ob are you lot going to knock some humility into those lightbulb cnuts?
Dortmund and inter to win tonight.
Anyone else bored shitless with the Champions League?
Obviously I'm interested when we're in it, but I just can't bring myself to care about PSV v Dortmund or Inter v Atletico. Even when the really big teams meet, it's a fixture you've seen over and over in previous years.
Think I'd genuinely stop watching football if there was a super league.
Obviously I'm interested when we're in it, but I just can't bring myself to care about PSV v Dortmund or Inter v Atletico. Even when the really big teams meet, it's a fixture you've seen over and over in previous years.
Think I'd genuinely stop watching football if there was a super league.
It’s terrible. The magic is completely gone from it.
If Brentford give City a scare or even take points off them I’d say it would rival the amount of viewers watching CL tonight
Dortmund are in horrible shape at the moment, so I'd be more than happy if they manage to steal a draw. They'll have to rely on the Dutch desire to serve Germans and aim for the moral victory.
Psv are from Brabant, they're basically Belgium.
This doesn't bode well.
Sancho got a poor touch nowadays. Remember when his control use to be top
That's why they call him Dutch R9
Malen has been class and deserved his goal.
0-1 Dortmund.
0-1 Dortmund.
Seems a lot of fans are turning to cricket now judging by the reported reaction to falling CL viewing figures
That's exactly it - the sparkle has gone. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be saying that if we won it. But it's so stale as a spectacle at this point if your team isn't involved. I've seen all these teams a million times. There's no mystery left.
Remember how thrilling it felt in the 90s? Now I'm kind of annoyed because I'd rather have the option to watch city v Brentford
I don't like football anywhere near as much as I did. But I still love it and I'll always have any PL game on, or the cup competitions. Teams in other countries though, I just don't care.
Love watching England Test Cricket games - if you'd said that to me ten years ago I'd have thought you were mental
Malen is really good so far.
It has. Clubs like city and psg have contributed to ruining the sport generally, but also there is a glaring lack of superstar players now - and I fear that real individualism might have left us with Ronaldo and Messi. Its been coming for a long time, but answer this, who are the absolute best players in the CL knockout stages this year?
Dont get me wrong, there are some excellent players and I love the promise of bellingham, vinicius etc, but its a totally different type of player to ronaldinho, kaka, the two mentioned above, r9, del piero, zidane. I used to tune in just to see these guys as a neutral. Wouldnt bother putting on any of tonights matches, or last weeks for that matter
Football is still fundamentally great, but with the additions of VAR, cheating oil clubs (and those that cheerlead for them), and capitalist greedy ownership, it’s lost a lot of what made it the best sport in the world.
Problem is that there are to many teams and whole concept is falling apart. As things go in certain direction I care less for every year that goes. Either I'm getting old or there is just no magic in it as someone said.
I actually don't care to much about Champions League as some of you. I rather win Premier League than Champions League and for me it is not whole world if we don't get into it.
Barely any chances in this Inter-Atletico game. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was 0-0 over two games.
Mkhitaryan has lost basically every ball, don’t they have anyone better?
Mkhitaryan has lost basically every ball, don’t they have anyone better?
Lozano asking for bookings is my pet peeve of the day...
Exactly. For me it was at its height when England had the pace and power teams but we never had the best players in the world in our league. That meant the big games that popped up in Europe had all these mythical players that drew you in.That's exactly it - the sparkle has gone. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be saying that if we won it. But it's so stale as a spectacle at this point if your team isn't involved. I've seen all these teams a million times. There's no mystery left.
Remember how thrilling it felt in the 90s? Now I'm kind of annoyed because I'd rather have the option to watch city v Brentford
Weird example but I remember Liverpool played Barca at Anfield around 98 odd and Rivaldo ran the show. The commentator weirdly brought up Roy Keane (must have been when he was threatening to leave) saying he was the perfect partner for him in midfield but signing a player like that would only happen in our dreams. We had Scholes in the squad back then!
But that was the pedestal we put these players on.
The lack of quality in that Inter-ATM game is staggering. They lack any technical ability. Reckon Mancity and Arsenal will have both teams on toast
Malen > Sancho based on this so far and it’s not even close
PSV lacking composure in final 3rd so far. Should be at least level
Yeah. For some reason the TNT commentators keep hyping up Sancho every time he has the ball only to lose it immediately.